October 30, 2026
How Dolores Huerta helped create the first generation of organizers for Measure ULA
In remembrance, we honor the extraordinary Dolores Huerta—a founder of the farmworkers’ movement, a civil rights leader, a champion of women’s rights, and a lifelong force for social justice. Her impact is immeasurable. She helped transform systems that shaped the lives of generations of workers and families, while inspiring and training countless organizers in California and around the world. Through them, her fierce spirit, boundless heart, and unwavering commitment to movement building live on.
The stories of Dolores’s impact are countless. Sharing them reminds us of the power of collective action and reinvigorates our movements, giving us strength in difficult times like these. So, in her honor, we add our own stick to the storytelling fire…
When the United to House LA coalition launched our campaign for Measure ULA in 2022, it didn’t take long for Dolores Huerta to throw her support behind the community and labor coalition that had come together to advance this groundbreaking housing and worker justice initiative. The Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF) not only endorsed ULA but also made a substantial investment in building the organizing capacity needed to win.
DHF established an eight-week training program that equipped emerging organizers with the skills and experience of grassroots campaigning—learning by doing, knocking on doors, and engaging voters in conversations about Measure ULA. At the program’s launch, Dolores herself addressed the young cadre of organizers, challenging them to embrace the hard, essential work of organizing that she had practiced throughout her life and continued to do.
There she was, once again walking the walk—investing not only in winning an immediate campaign but also in developing the next generation of organizers and strengthening the long-term capacity of movements for social justice. It was a powerful example of what made Dolores such an extraordinary movement builder: she understood that lasting change requires both winning today’s battles and cultivating the people who will lead tomorrow’s.
The organizers trained through the Dolores Huerta Foundation became a vital part of the grassroots effort that helped Measure ULA win nearly 58% of the vote, overcoming fierce corporate opposition. And the impact of that investment didn’t end on Election Day. Those organizers carried their skills, experience, and commitment forward, continuing to build power and advance change in their communities.
It was especially meaningful, then, when the United to House LA coalition was honored by the Miguel Contreras Foundation with the inaugural Dolores Huerta Labor and Community Champion Award. The accompanying painting by Lalo Alcaraz beautifully captured Dolores’s power and grace, and her lifelong devotion to community, solidarity, and justice.
Thank you, Dolores, for all you have given to our movements, our communities, and generations of organizers. Your legacy lives not only in the victories you helped win, but in the people you inspired, the leaders you nurtured, and the movements you helped build.
We are proud to have played a small part in that extraordinary legacy, and we will strive to carry it forward.
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This newsletter is produced by the United to House LA (UHLA) Coalition that includes over 240 local nonprofit social service providers, community and tenant organizations, labor unions, affordable housing developers, faith-based organizations, and other groups that came together to craft Measure ULA and who have stayed together to make sure that its implementation is carried out effectively and efficiently by the City government.
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